August Burns Red brings Spring Horizons to Royal Oak, Michigan

There was no letup of aggression the entire night of The Spring Horizons Tour, when four bands came together in Royal Oak, Michigan. Now, when I think of ‘spring horizons’, I think of nice relaxing vibes… these bands were anything but.

The first band onstage was Heavensgate; you would honestly think that you were at the pearly gates themselves at first before this band shatters that image with so much aggression and so much screaming.

Everybody in the band had so much energy this night, especially frontman Nazareth Tharratt having the time of his life. 

The second band up was Boundaries and they were just as aggressive as Heavensgate. This band not only hit as hard, they demanded even more. They wanted everybody to be crowd-surfing. When bass guy Nathan Calcagno said into the mic in the middle of the show that turning to hardcore and metalcore has made the band biggest that they’ve been yet, I agreed so hard with that. To see the change in recognition in the genre over the years has been so cool.

The third band onstage was The Amity Affliction. I’ve seen these guys a few years ago, but was still blown away by the show that they put on this night. It was nice to have clean vocals cutting through the amount of screaming that I heard all night, too. I feel like these guys just always put on a really good show.

The last band to perform was August Burns Red, who presents a very unique scream. Whether it’s high-pitched screaming or something low and authoritative, it sounds like there are multiple people yelling into the mic! Knowing this band is actually a Christian metalcore band, I imagined them screaming the fear of God into me. What a way to get their fans hyped up for Christ!

By the end of that show, I left feeling rejuvenated, ready to go to war, and ready to run through a wall — all at once. I sure got a kick in the butt during that concert and have no regrets.

Photography by Kayla N. Rising

Share this article

or